


Over you

by Bouncy_cat



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Happy Ending, M/M, Miscommunication, Silly Boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 08:00:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3802780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bouncy_cat/pseuds/Bouncy_cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some awkwardness was to be expected. </p>
<p>After all, you can’t declare your undying devotion to someone, have them laugh in your face and not expect some awkwardness when next you meet…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Over you

Some awkwardness was to be expected.

After all, you can’t declare your undying devotion to someone, have them laugh in your face and not expect some awkwardness when next you meet…

Even if you took your bruised ego and broken heart, fled to college and managed to avoid seeing them for three years.

Apparently that kind of embarrassment does not fade with time.

Okay, so Derek didn’t actually laugh in his face. But Stiles still feels his cheeks heat up when he remembers that day….the incredulous look Derek gave him, the concerned frown.

But worst of all his explanation…

A simple ‘sorry Stiles, I don’t feel the same’ would have been fine. Crushing, but fine. It would have left him with some dignity. He could have shrugged and said ‘hey, worth a try’. He would have made a joke out of it and gotten the hell out of there, licked his wounds at home and proceeded to pretend it didn’t happen.

Derek’s stilted speech was so much worse, because it boiled down to ‘you’re just a child’.

And it felt so spectacularly unfair, because seventeen may be young but Stiles hadn’t felt much like a child since his mom died and after everything they’d been through with the alpha-pack and the Nogitsune he’d seen more death and made more difficult decisions than the average forty year old.

For Derek of all people to call him a child after all of that. It hurt.

He’d cried.

And for Derek to try and comfort him, to pat his back sympathetically and tell him he’d get over it real quick… that made it so much worse.

So he’d shoved Derek’s arm away and ran out of there. Or tried to, at least. Because of course a humiliating rejection isn’t enough for Stiles, he had to go and trip on the freaking staircase, twist his ankle and limp out of there with Derek following him, acting all concerned and insisting he shouldn’t drive.

It took Stiles yelling at him to leave him the fuck alone, and people starting to look at them suspiciously, for Derek to finally turn around stiffly and go back to the loft.

So yeah. Awkward.

But after three years he didn’t expect it to still be this awkward.

It’s the first pack meeting in three years that Stiles and Derek are both attending and Derek keeps staring at him with that frowny face and maybe Stiles underestimated how pissed off Derek would be about the scene he made three years ago and his subsequent lack of contact.

Or maybe he’s just afraid Stiles is still carrying a torch for him.

Eventually Stiles can’t take it anymore and he follows Derek to Scott’s kitchen, because he needs to fix this. “Hey”

“Hey”

Stiles takes a deep breath and starts talking. “Look, Derek, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for- well, the scene I caused and for not making any effort to stay in touch afterwards. That was childish of me, guess you were right on that count. I mean, we were friends, right? We were. It’s just that- in the beginning it was hard, you know? And then I got over it, but it just felt weird to suddenly start calling or skyping you like I do with the others. I never should have left it this long, though. You’re pack and you did nothing wrong. You didn’t ask to be confronted with some teenager’s crush and-”

“Stiles?”

“Yeah?”

“You haven’t changed much, have you?”

Derek is smiling as he says it and Stiles feels a rush of relief. “No, I guess not.”

“I’m sorry too, you know. I made it…more awkward than it needed to be.”

“Maybe”, definitely, “but I got over it, and from now on, I’m going to keep in touch alright?”

Derek nods and they make small talk for a couple of minutes, about Stiles’ college experience, Derek’s job and the absence of supernatural mayhem in Beacon Hills. They’re both laughing when they leave the kitchen and when Derek gives him a one-armed hug before sitting down on the couch Stiles clamps down hard on the butterflies in his stomach.

He wasn’t lying when he said he got over it. It took him a long time, but he finally made peace with the fact that some things are just never going to happen.

Doesn’t mean his feelings for Derek have miraculously disappeared.

———–

Stiles holds to his promise. He emails Derek, sends him ridiculous YouTube videos like he does the rest of the pack, but when they call or Skype there’s still a strange sort of tension.

He knows Derek isn’t mad at him, so there can really only be one reason the awkwardness isn’t completely gone and Stiles thinks he knows how to fix it…

———–

“I want you to come to Beacon Hills with me and meet my friends.”

Mark looks at him like a deer in headlight and Stiles can’t help but laugh. They have an unspoken agreement, Mark and him. They go out, they have fun, they fuck like bunnies, but they both know it’s not serious. And it never will be.

They’re too different. Opposites may attract, but when he and Mark spend too much time together, they both start to get annoyed at the other’s habits. This thing they have is all about physical attraction and convenience, and it won’t last.

So yeah, he can understand Mark’s shock at this blatant violation of their unwritten contract.

After letting his sort of boyfriend stew for a moment, he clues him in. “Hey, I did it for you too, remember?”

Mark instantly relaxes. “You need me to play the perfect, devoted boyfriend?”

Stiles nods. “You think you can do that?”

“Hah! of course I can. I’ll be the best boyfriend ever, better than you were even, your friends are going to cry when we break up.” Mark rubs his hands together in anticipation. “Is your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend gonna be there?”

“No, just need to convince someone I’m over them.”

“Are you?”

“Not exactly”

“No worries. When we’re done, they’ll think we’re about to get engaged.”

———

It goes off without a hitch.

They show up at the next pack meeting together, and Mark acts appropriately nervous about meeting Stiles friends for the first time. And then he proceeds to charm the hell out of all of them.

It’s not difficult for Stiles to act like he’s head over heels for Mark too. Not when his ‘boyfriend’ is working this hard to be charming.

Their brilliant performance doesn’t have the desired effect though.

It was supposed to make it easier for Derek. Convince him that he doesn’t have to worry about Stiles feelings. It was supposed to take away that last bit of awkwardness in their interactions so they can at least be friends again. But when Stiles calls Derek a couple of weeks later, he seems distant and he keeps the conversation short.

Maybe they laid it on too thick and Derek didn’t buy it?

———-

One month later Scott tells him Derek is seeing someone. It hurts more than it should.

By the time winter break arrives they’re still going strong according to Scott and Stiles is almost tempted to fabricate some kind of excuse to not make the long journey home to Beacon Hills.

He goes though, because for one, it wouldn’t be fair to his dad, and two, accepting he and Derek are never going to be a thing also means accepting that Derek is going to be dating someone else.

And besides, it’s the perfect opportunity to show Derek that he’s really over him.

———

They’re meeting at the loft this time and when Stiles enters he immediately notices her.

She’s beautiful and he ignores the achy feeling in his heart and strikes up a conversation with her, just to prove to himself that he can.

She’s nice too. They don’t really have a lot in common aside from Derek but they like some of the same TV-shows and she’s easy to talk to. She seems kind, down to earth and blessedly sane, and if Derek is going to date anyone it might as well be her.

Later that evening when Derek, Scott and Lydia end up in a deep discussion about taxes of all things, Sophie seems a little left out so he sits down next to her, grabs his tablet, and pulls up a fail-compilation on YouTube. Nothing better to help two people bond than laughing at other people’s spectacular failures together.

Two ultimate fail compilations and four glasses of wine later, they’re laughing so hard Sophie falls off the couch. When Stiles pulls her back up he catches Derek’s eyes. He’s looking at them with a small frown.

“Sorry for hogging your girlfriend man.” Stiles tells him, then he hiccups and focuses back on his tablet.

When the night is over and Stiles’ cab is waiting Derek follows him out, probably to make sure he doesn’t break his neck tripping over his own feet. Before getting into the cab Stiles gives Derek a bright grin. “I like your girlfriend. Good choice bro.”

———–

One month later Scott tells him Derek and Sophie broke up.

Impossible as it may seem, he’s actually sad that Derek is single again. Because he won’t always be and Stiles actually liked Sophie. What if the next one is some complete and utter bitch? That would be so much harder to accept.

On the upside, two weeks later Derek calls him for a change and they spend a good hour talking about everything from breakfast foods to the Black widow movie. It’s not awkward at all and even though Stiles still feels a pang in his heart when they hang up, he’s happy too, because at least he can have this.

———-

Mark and him still have their ‘thing’ going on and Stiles talks to the pack, including Derek, all the time. So all in all, he’s pretty happy.

Then, one day before spring break, Mark breaks up with him. He’s in love and he’s found out it’s mutual so he wants to go for it. Monogamously.

As far as Stiles is concerned it’s a joyous occasion, and they decide to go out one last time to celebrate and get spectacularly drunk. On their way back to the dorm, trying to hold each other up, Stiles trips over Mark’s feet and falls flat on his face.

The next morning when he crawls out of bed with a massive hangover, he has a spectacular shiner and a gash on his nose and he’s not looking forward to the long drive to Beacon Hills.

He doesn’t have much of a choice though, because the pack is getting together again at Derek’s and he doesn’t want to miss it.

It’s a little bit early still when he arrives, but his dad’s at work so he didn’t feel like driving to the house first. He’s pretty sure Derek won’t mind though.

When he knocks Derek shouts at him to come in and Stiles follows the noise of clanging pans to the kitchen. “Dude, smells good.”

“Thanks, I- Jesus”

Suddenly Derek is right in front of him, hand on his jaw and studying his black eye closely. “What happened?” He barks.

“Well, funny story, Mark and I broke up and-”

Derek growls, actually growls. “I’ll kill him.”

“What? No man, it wasn’t like that, we got drunk and I tripped. That’s the truth, I swear. Mark didn’t do anything to…” He trails off because Derek is so fucking close to him and he can’t help himself, his eyes dip down to stare at those lips for just a tenth of a second, and suddenly he’s being kissed.

He’s so shocked he doesn’t even respond.

And then Derek is pulling back and apologizing. “Shit, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have.”

“Wha-”

“You just broke up. I’m sorry.” Derek thunks his head down on Stiles shoulder and mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like “never the right time”.

Stiles stops breathing for a moment. “Say what?”

Derek starts to pull away, face already closed off, but Stiles grabs his shirt and won’t let him retreat any further. “Do you want there to be a right time?”

“I’m not going to be your rebound Stiles, I-”

It’s enough of an answer for Stiles and he jerks Derek back and kisses him. Properly this time.

“You’re not a rebound,” he says, when Derek finally pulls back.

Derek opens his mouth to protest, but Stiles puts his hand over it. “Shut up”

So Derek shuts up and listens as Stiles explains about awkwardness, fuck-buddies and feelings that never went away.

And then Stiles shuts up as Derek explains about being 17, Kate Argent and wanting Stiles to have a normal college experience.

And when the rest of the pack walks in on them kissing in the kitchen there’s an instant chorus of “finally” and “about damn time”.

 

* * *

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